Applications of Photochemistry and Spin Chemistry to Challenges in Magnetic Resonance, Chemical Biology and Materials Sciences

美国国家科学基金会化学部的化学结构、动力学和机制项目支持哥伦比亚大学的Nicholas Turro教授，他将研究超分子系统中的电子和核自旋对识别，特别是封装在富勒烯（“巴基球”）中的氢和水分子。 这项工作中的合成和光谱研究将确定如何在原子水平上，两个或更多个小分子相互识别和通信。 这项工作的新奇在于在封装的分子中产生强的自旋极化，以提高磁共振信号的灵敏度。 Turro教授的小组还计划用荧光量子点以一种独特的方式标记活细胞中的mRNA。Turro教授热衷于吸引年轻人学习科学，特别是化学。 他和他的研究小组开发了网站，教学视频和书籍，以提高所有年龄组的化学知识。 他与来自地球仪各个角落的科学家进行了多次长期合作，并在哥伦比亚建立了一个多用户友好的共享仪器实验室，用于自旋化学和物理有机化学研究。

The Chemical Structure, Dynamics and Mechanisms Program in the Chemistry Division at the National Science Foundation supports Professor Nicholas Turro of Columbia University, who will study electronic and nuclear spin pair recognition in supramolecular systems, specifically hydrogen and water molecules encapsulated inside fullerenes ("buckyballs"). The synthetic and spectroscopic investigations in this work will determine how, on the atomic level, two or more small molecules recognize and communicate with each other. The novelty of the approach in this work is to create strong spin polarization in the encapsulated molecules, to enhance the sensitivity of the magnetic resonance signals. Professor Turro's group also plans to label mRNA in living cells in a unique way, with fluorescent quantum dots. Professor Turro has a keen interest in attracting young people to science, and to chemistry in particular. He and his research group have developed websites, instructional videos and books to enhance chemical knowledge across all age groups. He has multiple long-standing collaborations with scientists from all corners of the globe, and he has established a multi-user-friendly shared instrumentation laboratory for spin chemistry and physical organic chemistry studies at Columbia.